Christmas tree

Our beautiful Christmas tree! We were going to go fake this year since austin just eats everything, but alas we could not resist this beauty! So now the house smells like pine and it really is "beginning to feel a lot like Christmas". I gave my breakable ornaments to a friend and bought plastic unbreakable ones at the dollar store (12 for a buck!) so no austin can take everything thing off while I sit there worry free, ahhhh! Except hannah likes everything in it's place so once he is done playing with the ornaments she hangs them exactly where they were! Which saves me the trouble of doing it myself.

My little man sneaking away with ornament in hand, running from sister I might add. He was actually sleeping while we decorated which was good because we could get it done, now he just un-decorates it, but that is the fun of having a tree. Every morning when he wakes up the first thing he does is walk (since he's all big and walking now) over to the tree, as if to say hello, then grabs an ornament and walks away.

Hannah did such a great job decorating, she did almost all the tree, except the top, and she was very sure of herself. Whenever I decorate I always second guess myself and redo things like fifteen times. Hannah just knew, it was very helpful. It is so much fun with her getting bigger because now she can actually participate in all the activities without help. She loves being a big girl and shows me how much she has grown every morning. But no matter what she will always be my little girl (that likes to be a kitty, as in this picture)

My favorite thing about Christmas trees (besides the smell) is how the lights reflect off everything, ever speck of glitter, every glass (or rather plastic) ornament, every angle of the snowflakes, it just illuminates everything and makes it brighter. It struck me as symbolic of the season, Jesus being the light of the world, and the shinning star that led the wise men to Jesus. This light brings everything into light and illuminates (if we allow it) just like the Christmas tree. I just thought it was neat.